Curiosity Stops to Thwack Its Instruments, Take Amazing Panoramas

A mosaic panorama made from images taken on Mar. 27. Image: NASA/JPL/MSSS/Jason Major (Do yourself a favor and click through to see the full image)

On the road of life, it’s sometimes important to stop and thwack your sieve. Though NASA’s Curiosity rover is currently undertaking a long drive to the base of Mount Sharp, where it will investigate the geologic history of Mars, it’s also making time to scientifically sample the local terrain and snap some amazing photos.

The rover has many months to go before its arrival at Mount Sharp, but is pausing at an outcrop nicknamed “The Kimberley” for its resemblance to a similar area in northwestern Australia. Here, it has taken some breathtaking images, such as the mosaic panorama from Mar. 27 stitched together by graphic designer and space enthusiast Jason Major. The region contains a great deal of sedimentary sandstone, which is made from small grains held together by a cement-like matrix. The characteristics of the cement, which can be anywhere from crumbly and soft to strong and hard, can tell scientists a great deal about the geologic history of this area. The Curiosity team is planning to drill into the sandstone and sample it and has even chosen a nice rock face to do some science on.

Of course, when trying to do remote science across 140 million miles certain problems arise. First, Curiosity had trouble recovering images taken of the CHIMRA instrument, which were necessary to determine if the thwacking had been successful in cleaning it out. But even after the team downloaded pictures, the rover predicted that moving its arm the way that was planned for the sampling operation might fall outside its very stringent safety parameters, something known as a “fault.” This stopped all activity until planners could double-check their commands and figure out a way to do what they needed in a safer way.

Because of this, Curiosity has been in the same place now for the last few days, which has let the team make more detailed plans. These include taking close up images of a few tiny landslides probably caused by vibration as the rover drove up to the outcrop. This weekend, the rover will take more photos as well as shoot some rocks with lasers and X-rays to better understand their composition, so be on the lookout for future exciting pictures and science.